Building Blocks, Macaronni & Cheese, and Nap Time
by penguino3782
Summary: "I need you to watch Liam," Fiona says in a rush. Baby-sitting Gallagher's wiggly, sticky toddler brother is not Mickey's ideal way of spending his day off. But then again, Mickey is finding himself doing a lot of things as of late that he never imagined himself doing. What's one more to the list? Part of my "Self-Preservation" verse.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Shameless.**

**A/N: This is another one-shot from my "Self Preservation" verse. It takes place before "Coming to Understandings," but after Jimmy leaves the Gallagher's. I hope you guys like it! It's rated M because of Mickey's colorful language even in front of a child and because of content in the very last part.  
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**Building Blocks, Macaroni & Cheese, and Nap Time**

The shrill sound of his phone causes Mickey to squint his eyes open. Too lazy to see who it is, he quickly rolls over and burrows his head into his pillow. Whoever it is must have gotten the hint and realized that it was a waste of time to call him when the sun has barely come up because the phone stops ringing. Just as he's about to drift off, his phone starts to ring again. He huffs in aggravation. "What. the. Fuck?" He half heartedly feels for the phone with his hand, while keeping his eyes shut. He can't find it and soon enough it stops ringing. Then almost as if it's some kind of cruel joke, like whoever is messing with him knows that this is the first morning he has had off in three weeks, the phone begins to ring again. "Fuck!" Beyond aggravated, Mickey quickly sits up and looks around his room for the obnoxious cell phone. Spotting it on his dresser, he quickly makes his way over to it. Without even looking at who's calling him, he gruffly answers "What the fuck do you want?"

"Mickey?" A hesitant voice says over the line.

Mickey's eyebrow quirks up in alarm, when he realizes who is calling him. Because even though he has gotten a hell of a lot closer to the Gallagher's, this is still a new one. Fiona has only called him twice. The first time was when she was trying to get ahold of her dick head brother Lip after Ian took a major turn for the worst over the summer, And the second was two weeks ago when she was looking for her brother and his phone dead. Mickey can instantly feel his heart to speed up. It's a school day, Gallagher spent the night at home. Why would she be calling Mickey? Unless….

"Relax, Mickey. Ian's fine."

Sighing in relief, he rubs his tired eyes, "Then what the hell do you want?"

"I ummmm….need to ask you a favor."

The ex-con sighs. What the hell favor does Fiona Gallagher need so badly that she's calling him? "Favor? What kind of favor? Are the Mahoneys giving you shit again? Because I warned them-"Mickey starts but is stopped when Fiona interrupts him.

"No. Nothing like that Mickey."

"Then what is it?" Mickey asks, genuinely confused. If it doesn't involve threatening or beating the shit out of someone then what does she need with him?

"I need you to watch Liam," Fiona says in a rush.

Mickey can't help but laugh. Him baby-sit? She must be joking?

"Mickey, you there?" Fiona asks when he doesn't answer.

After getting himself under control he replies, "Yeah, I'm here. I thought for a second that you asked me to baby-sit the rugrat."

The line is quiet for a few seconds and then Fiona says, "I did. I asked for the day off to take Liam to the doctor. But, then I got called in. The company is under a big deadline. I'll probably won't get back until late."

"Aren't there like a million of you Gallaghers?" Mickey asks.

"Lip is away at that robotics thing. The kids are all in school since it's a school day. Vee has a shift at the nursing home and Frank is….Frank. The last time he was left alone with Liam, Liam got that strange ass rash, remember?"

Mickey visibly shudders as he recalls how disgusting the rash was and how upset the kid was because no amount of scratching relieved the painful itch. "You really want me to baby-sit? Are you sure about this?"

"Well, I can call the school and have Ian dismissed early. It's not like the teachers haven't been unreasonable with letting him make up all the assignments he missed. What's one more afternoon of missed classes," Fiona says quietly.

The damn bitch definitely knows how to play dirty. Gallagher's been having one hell of a time making up all the work he's missed because of his injuries. They all know that he can't afford to miss any more school.

"Fine, give me ten." Mickey relents.

"Thanks, Mickey! I owe you!" Fiona says just before she ends the call.

"Fucking Gallaghers," Mickey mutters as he puts on a semi-clean shirt.

**XXXXX**

"Hey, Mickey." Fiona says as she opens the door with Liam perched on her hip.

Mickey nods his head as she steps to the side to let him in the house. She promptly puts him in Mickey's hands. As he's trying to get a hold on the squirming toddler he says, "I'm not changing any diapers."

Fiona gives him a smirk. "You don't have to worry about that, he's potty trained. Aren't you big guy." she coos as she runs her hand through the rugrat's curly hair.

"So um, what do I do?" Mickey asks as he moves away from Liam's grabby hands.

As she's getting her stuff together she replies, "Watch tv, feed him, put him down for a nap, and make sure he doesn't stick his fingers in any electrical sockets." He must be giving off a vibe of some anxiety because in the next breath she says reassuringly, "You'll be fine, Mickey. And Ian should come right home from school. He has nothing after school, so it's like four hour tops. You'll be okay."

Mickey nods his head, "You guys fucking owe me."

Fiona playfully tickles Liam and turns back to Mickey. "I say we call it even after the little episode earlier this week where you came over here at three in the morning and woke up this little guy before you preceded to throw up all over our front steps."

Mickey mutters under his breath "fuck me". That was one night that he would rather forget. Him stumbling to their place late at night, making a racket waking up everyone in the house, while looking for Gallagher because he was pissed drunk. What he didn't tell the Gallaghers that night or the next morning when he woke up on their couch with one mother of a hangover was the reason why he got so fucked up. No, they didn't need to know about how some asswipe made fun of Gallagher, calling him a cripple before Mickey busted his face. That the reason why he made his late night appearance was to reassure himself that the redhead was okay. No, they didn't need to know all that. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

She nods her head, "I'm gonna get going. Thanks again." She says one final goodbye to them as she leaves and Mickey is left standing in the Gallagher living room with a wiggly three year old who is still muttering a series of "Byes."

Mickey remains there for a minute, looking around the Gallagher living room. What the fuck did he get himself into?

"Down," Liam says as he tries to wiggle himself out of Mickey's hands.

"All right you little brat," Mickey says as he moves to the couch and puts down the toddler. He turns on the television as he watches the rugrat play with a pile of blocks that are on the floor. He's half ass watching some crap on the tv when he feels a chubby hand on his wrist. He looks down to see the kid holding up a block. "Play"

Not really understanding what the kid wants, Mickey looks at him confused.

"Play!" Liam says again loudly. When Mickey still doesn't respond and looks down at the toddler with questioning eyes, Liam smacks him on the knee with the block that's in his hand, "Play!"

Mickey rubs his knee, "Jesus! You little shit. Alright!" Mickey hisses as he gets down on to the floor and starts building…..something with the blocks. Liam is doing the same thing and when Liam stands up his teeter-totter body accidentally bumps into his block creation and the thing topples to the ground. Mickey holds his breath, hoping that the kid doesn't burst into tears. But then when the kid starts laughing hysterically, he sighs in relief. "You like to wreck shit, too?" Mickey asks as he knocks down his own creation and is once again rewarded with Liam bursting into more laughing when his demolished building makes even more noise.

The two of them continue to build even bigger things and knock them down for awhile. But then Mickey hears a strange noise coming from the kid's stomach. "You gotta go to the bathroom?"

Liam smiles at him. "Eat, eat."

"Yeah, yeah." Mickey says as he goes into the kitchen to see what he can fix up for lunch. He opens the fridge and takes out a beer for himself and finds some hotdogs and left over macaroni and cheese. He finds a somewhat clean plate on the counter and places the food on them and pops them in the microwave. That wasn't too bad. He goes back into the living room to retrieve the kid. Just as he walks back into the kitchen with the kid in tow, the microwave dings. "Where the fuck is the seat belt?" Mickey mutters to himself as he places Liam in his seat. Liam just giggles at him, swiping at Mickey's hands playfully. "Just don't fall out. I don't need your sisters and brothers to get all pissy because you cracked your head open."

He knows enough to cut the hotdog into little pieces for the kid. He's been at the Gallaghers' house for enough meal times to know that. He steals a piece of food off Liam's plate and just smirks when the kid yells "Hey!"

"Hey, yourself." Mickey replies as he sits down next to the kid, drinking his beer. As the toddler's eating, Mickey is drinking his beer and texting Gallagher. Nothing big. Just small shit, like if Gallagher wants to come over to his place tonight. He's definitely not seeing how the redhead's day is going. He's not a fucking pussy and doing faggy shit like that. Just as he's about to text Gallagher something definitely not appropriate to say aloud in front of his three year old brother, he feels something hit him in the forehead. He reaches up and finds a piece of macaroni there. The sound of cackling brings Mickey's attention back to the rugrat. "You little snot!" Mickey says playfully as he picks up a piece of hotdog that has fallen on the table and tosses it back at the kid, hitting him right in the middle of the forehead. The kid just laughs even harder. The next couple of minutes dissolve into a food fight. It ends when there's more food on them and on the floor than on Liam's plate. But it appears that some food did in fact get into the kid.

Mickey's wipes the kid off and cleans up the floor….somewhat because the last thing he needs is a pissed off Fiona because the kid was covered in dried macaroni and the floor was a mess. He grabs himself another beer and takes out a juice box for the kid. The two settle on the couch both drinking their respective drinks. He lets the kid take the remote and they quickly settle on some cartoon shit. He can feel the kid moving closer to him, settling in against his side, his face nuzzled into his side and his slightly sticky hand resting on Mickey's thigh. The kid laughs when he sees something he thinks in particularly funny on tv and sometimes Mickey catches himself laughing too. But, the laughs coming from the kid fall off after awhile. Curious, the ex-con looks down and sees the kid's eyes are closed. He gently nudges the kid, the kid doesn't move. "Hey, kid. You, awake?" Still nothing, the kid dozed off. He tries to disentangle the kid from himself, but the kid only holds onto his leg tighter and burrows himself deeper into the ex-con's side. When Liam lets out a little whine, Mickey stops because he does not want to wake the kid up and deal with a sleep deprived rugrat, Mickey gives in and leans his head back against the couch, taking comfort in the silence.

**XXXXX**

He must have dozed off because the next thing he knows, he wakes up to snickering. Mickey quickly spins his head around to see where it's coming from and sees Gallagher standing in the doorway. "How cute, Mickey."

Not wanting to wake the still sleeping toddler glued to his side, Mickey whispers "Fuck you, Gallagher."

Gallagher walks over to the couch and sits down on the coffee table, "Seriously, thanks for watching him Mickey." He then leans in towards Mickey and the ex-con thinks that he's going to kiss him, but that feeling quickly dissipates when Ian pulls a piece of macaroni out of his hair. He gives Mickey a questioning look. "How the hell did this happen?"

Mickey shakes his head, "Don't ask."

Gallagher laughs and leans in again this time to whisper something into his ear, "I find this look on you kinda hot."

"Me with your sticky brother plowed into my side and macaroni in my chair? You took one too many percs again?"

But, the wiggle in Gallagher's eyebrows and him motioning to the upstairs tell Mickey that Gallagher is serious. "Aren't we gonna wake him up?" Mickey asks as he nudges the still sleeping toddler at his side.

"Gallaghers can sleep through almost anything, especially Liam," Gallagher responds.

"Yeah, well Fiona reminded me this morning how a couple of days ago I woke all you up, including this little shit," Mickey replies as he motions to the toddler.

The younger boy shakes his head. "She didn't tell you that he was already up earlier that night with a earache. It'll be fine," Gallagher says with his usual cocky smirk.

Mickey doesn't have to be told twice, they haven't done anything in two days, so Mickey quickly gives in. "Okay then, can you get this little bugger off of me so we can get on with it before Debs and Carl get home from school."

Gallagher is already nudging the toddler away from Mickey before the ex-con could even finish his request. He waits at the bottom of the stairs as Gallagher puts a blanket over his sleeping brother. As he follows the redhead up the stairs, Mickey can't help but think. Today wasn't a bad day. Watching the rugrat wasn't half bad. He actually kinda likes spending time with the kid. And the look on Ian's face outweighs any reservations he may have about watching the toddler. And when Gallagher turns around and puts his hand down Mickey's pants and starts stroking his dick enthusiastically, he tells himself 'Yeah, I'll definitely watch the rugrat again.'

**I've been wanting to do a 'Mickey baby-sits Liam story' for awhile now, so I hope you guys all enjoyed it. I just love the idea of Mickey interacting with the Gallaghers. Let me know what you guys think!**


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